Optimizing a Website for the Christmas Rush

For businesses and bloggers alike, Christmas is the most lucrative time of the year. Companies slash prices and customers indulge both themselves and their loved ones through plenty of gifts and other online expenditures. Through the Internet, Canadian marketers can not only reach their local audience but also gain access to a global user-base with billions of dollars in its pockets and a ready excuse to spend them.

It’s reasonable to say that the Christmas season deserves its own separate strategy running from October to January, including specialized SEO and marketing practices. The holiday season is already upon us, but it isn’t too late to earn yourself a nice Christmas bonus or drive significant holiday revenues to your site.

Target Consumers

You can sell just about anything online. Millions of people make a living peddling information, recommendations, services and physical products. During Christmas, try to focus on products. If you run an actual store, this is easy. Otherwise, use affiliate marketing to bring viewers to vendors and earn a slice of the deal in the process. Think about the kind of gifts that could be given within your niche. Keep it relevant to your brand, but don’t be afraid to go outside of the box. If you run a service based business, consider sending out an email blast or notification to all your current clients letting them know about special holiday discounts or services that may gain some extra attention and drive as many impressions to your site.

Update Keywords

Besides posting new products or services, update any similar posts left over from last year. These articles or categories are already established with the search engines, and a quick refreshing may be enough to bring them back to the top of the results page. Choose perennial topics like electronics to ensure continued interest in the post. Also keep this in mind while writing new content. Lists are easy enough to keep up to date, while blog posts about a specific gadget are not. Fresh content is important and comes at a premium on Google. Balance the old and the new for the most effective SEO. For future campaigns consider having a /holidays section on your site so that you can optimize the same URL or category year over year.

Track Down the Deals

Holiday shoppers expect discounts. Sometimes retailers simply up their prices to cut them again, because what really matters is that people can see a big red line through the original price and how much they are saving. You are more likely to make conversions during the Christmas season if you or your affiliates offer some sort of sale. Increased volume should more than make up for lower individual profits. If you can convince your traffic both that they need a product and that you are offering it at the best price, you have accomplished every marketer’s primary objective and will reap the rewards.

Use Social Media

As Christmas gets closer and closer, reaching consumers quickly becomes the most important goal for businesses. For Canadian marketers, local customers can go into businesses on Christmas Eve if they need to, but more distant buyers must take shipping into consideration. Social media is the fastest way to establish a direct line with potential clients and may increase the odds of impulse purchases. Develop a strong Facebook and Twitter campaign sharing new deals as you find them. Don’t go overboard and start spamming until your subscribers abandon you. Save your valuable social media real estate for the best offers, and watch as the Christmas craze brings you more business than you’ve ever handled before.